One who lived on that road, and in that age,
was not easily excited by an event of so frequent occurrence. Sigismund
hastily recounted to his companion all the circumstances that were then
known to himself, and related the manner in which he had first met the
Italian on the lake, and his general impressions concerning his character.
"All come and go unquestioned here;" returned the Augustine, when the
other had ended. "Our convent has been founded in charity, and we pray for
the sinner without inquiring into the amount of his crime. Still we have
authority, and it is especially our duty, to keep the road clear that our
own purposes may not be defeated. I leave thee to do what thou judgest
most prudent and proper in a matter so delicate."
Sigismund was silent; but as the pedestrians were drawing near, his
resolution was soon and sternly formed. The obligations that he owed to
Maso made him more prompt, for it excited a jealous distrust of his own
powers to discharge what he conceived to be a duty. Even those late events
in which his sister was so wronged had their share, too, on the decision
of a mind so resolute to be upright.
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